Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier of Longford

Francis Aungier, 1st Baron Aungier of Longford (1558–1632), also known as Lord Aungier, was the progenitor of the Earldom of Longford, member of the House of Lords, Privy Councillor for Ireland, and Master of the Rolls in Ireland under James I and Charles I.[1]

The Right Honourable The Lord Aungier of Longford
Arms of Aungier: Ermine, a griffin segreant azure
Master of the Rolls in Ireland
In office 1609 – aft. 1625
Monarch	James I, Charles I
Member of House of Lords
In office 1614–1614
Justice of Assize
Personal details
Born	Francis Aungier 1558 Cambridge, England
Died	1632 Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	English
Occupation	judge
Profession	lawyer

Early life

Francis was born in 1558 in Cambridge, England, the eldest son of Richard Aungier, Esq., and Rose Steward. His father was a barrister and a member of Gray's Inn. Francis attended Westminster School, and Trinity College, University of Cambridge, before entering Gray's Inn in 1577. He became a member of several jurisdictions, and was the reader of the Inn in 1602.[2] His father was murdered in his chambers in 1597, soon after his third election as Treasurer of Gray's Inn, and his body thrown into the Thames: the brother of Francis, Richard Aungier, was hanged for the crime at Tyburn on 25 January 1598.[3]

Later years

In consequence of his first marriage, Aungier settled at East Clandon, Surrey during the 1590s, where he became a friend of Sir William More of Loseley.[4] In 1609, King James I appointed him to the Irish Privy Council, as well as to the position of Master of the Rolls for Ireland. He was also knighted at Greenwich the King that same year.[5] He was re-appointed Master of the Rolls for Ireland by King Charles I in 1625.[6]

Aungier attended the House of Lords in 1614 and served as commissioner of the plantations at Munster in 1616 and Longford in 1620. In 1619, he was appointed as a commissioner of the Great Seal following the death of Archbishop Thomas Jones.[2] In 1621, he was created Lord Aungier, Baron of Longford by patent, which stated that he descended from the Counts of Aungier.[6][7]

He purchased the lands of the White Friars Monastery where he resided in Dublin: there, in 1677, Aungier Street was dedicated in honour of his family.[2]

Marriage and issue

Aungier was married three times, and had several children through his marriages.[8]

He married first Douglas Fitzgerald, sister of the 14th Earl of Kildare, and had five children:

• Gerald Aungier, 2nd Baron Aungier of Longford, who married Jane Onslow, daughter of Sir Edward Onslow
• Ambrose Aungier, Chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathredal, who married Grisel Bulkeley, daughter of the Archbishop of Dublin, Lancelot Bulkeley, and was the father of Francis Aungier, 1st Earl of Longford, Gerald Aungier, and Ambrose Aungier, 2nd Earl of Longford
• Elizabeth Aungier, who married Simon Caryll, Richard Barne, and John Machell
• Lettice Aungier, who married Edward Cherry of Dublin,[9] Sir William Danvers, and Sir Henry Holcroft.[10]
• Thomas Aungier
• Francis Aungier (died young)

He married secondly Anne Barne, daughter of Sir George Barne III, and had two children:

• George Aungier
• Frances Aungier

He married thirdly Margaret Cave, daughter of Sir Thomas Cave (died 1613) of Stanford Hall and Eleanor St. John.[11] They had no issue.

References

1. J.E.M., 'Aungier, Francis (1558-1632), of Gray's Inn, London and East Clandon, Surr.; later of Longford and Dublin, Ireland', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online.
2. F.E. Ball, The Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921 (John Murray, London 1926), Vol. I, Book III - 1603 to 1690, pp. 244-46, pp. 322-23 (Google).
3. 'Aungier, Francis', History of Parliament online. Extended account in C.H. Cooper and T. Cooper, Athenae Cantabrigienses Vol. II, 1586-1609 (Deighton Bell, Cambridge; Macmillan & Co, London, 1861), pp. 229-30.
4. 'Aungier, Francis (1558-1632)', History of Parliament online.
5. C.H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, Vol. 3 (Warwick & Co (Printers), Cambridge 1845), pp. 255-56 (Google).
6. "Viscount Leinster", in A. Collins, ed. E. Brydges, Collins's Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical and Historical, Greatly Augmented &c., 9 Vols (F.C. and J. Rivington, et al., London 1812), VI, p. 173 (Google).
7. 'Family of Lord Aungier', in J. Lodge, revised M. Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland: Or, a Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom Vol. III (James Moore, Dublin 1789), pp. 376-78.
8. B. Burke, 'Aungier - Baron Aungier of Longford', in A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, New Edition (Harrison, London 1866), p. 18 (Google).
9. 'Family of Cherry', in 'XV: Extracts from the Parish Registers of Camberwell, Surrey', F. Madden and B. Bandinel (eds), Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, Vol. 3 (John Bowyer Nichols & Son, London 1836), pp. 158-59 (Google).
10. V.C.D. Moseley and R. Sgroi, 'Holcroft, Sir Henry (c.1586-1650), of Long Acre, Westminster and Greenstreet House, East Ham, Essex' in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press, 2010), History of Parliament online.
11. Margaret Cave married first, Sir John Wynn (eldest son of Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet), who died 1621, The History of the Gwydir Family written by Sir John Wynn, Knt. and Bart. (Woodall and Venables, Oswestry 1878), Table IV, inter pp. 104, 105.; second Francis Aungier; and third Sir Thomas Wenman. J. Nichols, The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, Vol. 4 Part 1 - Guthlaxton Hundred (John Nichols and Son, London 1807), p. 352.